kolling@decwrl.UUCP (Karen Kolling) (10/20/85)
> I had always believed that cats are unable to catch birds--unless > the bird is very young, sick, or injured. > Is there any way to disuade him from this practice? I have > seen people put bells on cats for this--but that would probably > drive me up the wall. We feed the birds in the winter--I hate > to attract them to their deaths. Try moving the feeder and bird bath out into the open, preferably at least ten or fifteen feet away from shrubbery (and off the ground), where the birds will see the cat before it can catch them. Some will still get caught occasionally. > By the way, these are the declawed cats that people have flamed > me about, and claimed were maimed for life. Declawing is (besides the occasional maiming due to complications of the surgery) a problem because the cat cannot protect itself from dogs, raccoons, etc. because it can't scratch them and it also usually loses the ability to climb trees (at all or fast enough) to escape them. A cat can catch birds with its paws and teeth. Declawing also tends to adversely effect the sense of balance when leaping.